Growing Up
by Aislinn Carter
Summary: After a grueling flight home, Tag runs into a family of old friends who make him think.


This takes place about seven years after the finale.

Disclaimer: I do not own Friends or any of the characters from that show…If I did, I'd be freaking rich. I do, however, own Tyler, Amber, Chelsea, Jesse, Ellie and Melissa, because I made them up!

Repost anywhere, just let me know…and please review! I love feedback! 

By Aislinn Carter

It was one of those freakish things, something you don't expect to see, so you're completely unprepared to see it. I almost felt like it was one of those 'Where's Waldo' things, the kind I had when I was a kid. I hadn't seen her in ten years, since that day I went running out of the coffee house in a cold sweat of relief. And I hadn't seen him since that same day, when I ran into him on a random street. In a city with several million people, that seemed like a little too much of a coincidence for me, but I guess those things happen.

I was in the baggage claim area, just coming home from my trip to Rome. I was tired, hungry, rumpled and irritable, and in no mood to talk to anyone. Being stuck in coach between two…ummm…voluptuous women for more than ten hours can do that to a person. All I wanted to do was get my luggage and get the hell home.

I heard giggling from behind me, and the sounds of frazzled parents trying to get their kids under control. I rolled my eyes and tried to drown the sounds out, glad my wife and I only had one fairly well behaved child to deal with. Finally, my bag came around the carousel, and I hoisted it down and started to lug it behind me.

I turned around to exit the baggage claim area, and froze. I couldn't believe it. After all these years, there she was. Her hair was longer than I remembered, a little darker, loose and wavy and completely disheveled. She was wearing a pair of faded denim shorts, her legs a little thicker than I remembered but no less shapely. Her waist didn't look as tiny as it had once been under her hot pink polo shirt, but it was still slim. She was past forty, if I recalled correctly, but she sure didn't look it. But she did look like a mother. No longer a fashion plate, but a mother. And of course she was. That had, after all, been why I had seen her last.

She was holding several pieces of luggage while attempting to keep a firm grip on a little boys arm. She lifted her left hand to brush back a piece of hair, and I saw the light glint off of a diamond ring. So, she was married. I looked over to the tall, dark haired man standing next to her, also attempting to hold on to luggage and a child at the same time. I could only see his back, but I could swear…

The man turned to talk to his wife, and I almost gasped. Well, go figure. They finally got together.

There were two other kids with them besides the ones they were holding. One was a teenage boy, the other a young girl. The boy was tall, blonde haired, and was helping his father load luggage onto a cart. The girl appeared to be eight or nine, and she had long dark blonde hair and a pout on her face. The whole family was tanned, and the two little ones had Mickey Mouse ears on. Fro what I could tell, they had come in on the flight from Orlando.

I debated going over to say hi. But it had been a decade, and even though I remembered her, she might not remember me. And it would be awkward. I looked down at myself, clad in a wrinkled Armani suit with a noticeable stain of ketchup on the left sleeve from that…voluptuous, overzealous woman's hotdog. I was hot and sweaty and in no mood to make awkward small talk. But then, when I lifted my head, she was staring at me with narrowed eyes.

The shock of recognition passed across her face, and she said something to her husband, who turned around and joined the staring contest. Then they both smiled and waved at me as best they could.

I sighed, seeing no way to avoid it, and pulled my bag behind me towards the happy, frazzled little family. I held my hand out to the father and grinned.

"Ross, good to see you again,"

Ross grinned back and shook my hand. "Tag, wow. It's been, what, how long has it been, hon?"

His wife smiled and reached over to grab me in a hug. "God, it's been ten years! Remember, Tag, at the coffeehouse?" she glanced at the small children and smirked. "Well, I'm sure you remember."

"How could I forget?" I said wryly. "I don't think I ever felt my heart stop like that."

They laughed. "Oh, look at him, Ross!" she said happily. "He's all grown up now."

I laughed. "Well, judging from all these kids, I'd have to say you're pretty grown up, too, Rachel."

Rachel smiled widely. "Yeah, we certainly have our hands full, don't we?" she placed her hand on the teenager's shoulder. "But Ben helps us out a lot, don't you sweetie? Do you remember Ross' son, Ben? He was just a little boy when you saw him."

"I only saw him a few times."

"Ben, do you remember Tag?" Ross asked.

The teenager titled his head. "No, I'm sorry, I don't."

"Ben is seventeen," Ross said. "He's going to N.Y.U next year."

"Only because Dad works there," Ben joked.

"Well, you must be very proud. Ross, you're still at N.Y.U?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm the chair of the Paleontology department now, so I only teach a few classes. I have plenty of time to take these…fun family vacations."

"Are you still at Ralph Loren, Rachel?"

She laughed. "Oh, no, I left them years ago. I actually ended up at Kate Spade for a while, but then I decided I really wanted to spend time with the kids. Oh, Tag, this is Emma." She gestured to the huffy looking girl with the dark blonde hair. I could see now her eyes were blue, and she rolled them as her mother introduced her. "She's nine. These two," she placed a hand on each of the small children's heads. "This is Amber, she's six, and Tyler is four." I smiled at the two little ones. The girl, also with bright blue eyes but dark hair, smiled back. The little dark haired boy just gazed at me with dark eyes.

"Well, hello, there. I see you went to Disneyworld."

The little girl, Amber, nodded enthusiastically. I laughed. She reminded me of my daughter.

"So, when did you two get married?"

"About seven years ago." Ross said. "It was about time, too, wasn't it honey?" He nudged Rachel.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, I don't know, I kind of liked the back and forth fun."

"They got married after they had me," Emma spoke up. "It's incredibly embarrassing."

"Ignore her," Rachel said, giving her daughter a warning look. "She just wants to go home and play with her friends, but if she keeps up the attitude, she won't be seeing her friends for a very long time."

"Wait a minute…" Now I was confused. "If she's the baby you told me about…Ross is her father?"

"Well who else would it be?" Emma said snottily.

"Two weeks, Emma. I'm about to go with two weeks."

Emma frowned, but kept her mouth shut.

"Yes, Emma is my daughter." Ross said. He grinned. "Actually, all these kids are mine, in case you're wondering."

I re-played the last conversation I had with Ross, where I could have sworn he said Rachel's baby was from "some Italian guy". It looked like some wires had gotten crossed with that, because Emma was clearly both Ross and Rachel's daughter. She favored Rachel more, but I could definitely see Ross there.

"And what have you been up to? You look so spiffy!" Rachel said.

"Oh," I tugged at my wrinkled suit with embarrassment. "I'm working at Tommy Hilfiger now. I'm the Executive Marketing Manager. Actually, I'm just coming home from a conference in Rome. It was a terrible flight, so I'm not exactly at my best." I frowned. "Rachel, I thought, last I heard, you were taking a position in Paris. Was that you, or someone else?"

"It was me. It wasn't what I really wanted." She smiled at Ross.

"How's your sister, Ross?"

"Oh, Mon is great. She and Chandler have three kids, and they live in Westchester."

"Three kids?" I internally shuddered. I remembered Chandler, and I wasn't sure I would trust him with one kid, let alone three.

"Yeah, their oldest two are twins, they're seven. Actually, they're adopted. They had a baby three years ago, and honestly it was a total shock. Her name is Chelsea; she's the cutest little thing." Ross said proudly. "Monica actually opened up her own restaurant up there, and Chandler still works in Manhattan. They're very happy."

"What about your other friends? Phoebe and Joey? Do you still see them? I remember you six were inseparable." Ridiculously inseparable, actually.

"Well, Phoebe got married, oh, God, what was it Ross, eight years ago? Maybe? They have a four year old son, Jesse. They still live in Manhattan. Joey actually lives in California. He got married and he has two kids. He actually had a movie out-"

"That's right!" I exclaimed. "Hearts of Soldiers, my wife and I saw it."

"Oh, you're married?" Rachel asked curiously.

"Yeah, we actually met at a conference in L.A. five years ago. We got married a year later, and we have a three year old daughter. Her name is Melissa."

"Oh, that's so great!" Rachel exclaimed.

I smiled. I was very proud of my daughter. "Thank you."

"Where are you living?"

"In Manhattan. Are you still there?"

"Oh, God, no!" Rachel laughed. "There's no way I could deal with these kids in the city. Actually, Ben's mother's moved out to the island a few years ago, and we decided it'd be a good idea to do that, too. Tyler had just been born and we realized that we wanted the kids to have a backyard, you know? And we didn't want to be far from Ben. They live in Syosset and we got a place in Woodbury, so we're only about fifteen or twenty minutes away. It's good, too, because we're closer to our parents."

"The commute is tough," Ross said. "But it's worth it."

"We have a pool!" Amber shouted.

"Mommy, potty," Little Tyler said insistently.

"Oh, we'd better get out of here. Ben, is that everything?" Ross said.

"Yeah, Dad. Rachel, I'll take Tyler to the men's room. Nice to meet you, Tag."

"You, too. Ross, Rachel, it was great to see you again."

They both smiled warmly. "You, too, Tag." Ross said.

"Take care of yourself," Rachel said softly.

I walked off, then stopped at the exit doors. I turned around to look at the Geller family one more time. Emma had taken her little sister's hand, and they were all walking off to the side to wait for Ben and Tyler. When they came out, the family walked out of the airport, smiling and laughing.

When I got home, I quietly let myself into the apartment and left that irritating piece of luggage in the corner. It was late, and I knew that Ellie would be asleep by now. I looked around the apartment, and for the first time, I realized it wasn't exactly where I wanted to raise Melissa. I could hear the sounds of traffic outside; the honking, the sirens, people talking and laughing. Glancing around, I noticed that the place still looked like it belonged to a young career couple. All of Melissa's toys were in the small room that had once been the workout room, and since she was still so young, she didn't seem to care where she had to play. But aside from her nursery and the playroom, you could barely tell that a child lived here. All the furniture was ultra modern and looked untouchable. It wasn't a warm home. And there was definitely no backyard.

I loosened my tie and made my way down the hallway, stopping at Melissa's partially opened door. I walked silently over to her bedside, and just gazed at her, snuggled up in her pink comforter in her pink canopy bed, like a little princess. I loved to just look at her, at this little miracle who came into my life and warmed my heart with her bright smiles and warm hugs. As terrified as I had been when I briefly thought Rachel was having my baby all those years ago, I had been elated when I found out about Melissa. Ellie and I had only been married a few months, but I had been ready. Or so I thought. But now, looking at it, I realized that Ellie and I hadn't really changed our lifestyles for our daughter. Instead, we worked her into our lives, ad it shouldn't have been that way. She should have come above everything, especially above the snotty looking furniture.

The lights from outside peeked through the curtains and fell on my little girl, lighting up the auburn in her dark hair and making her look like a little angel. I was struck suddenly by the fact that she deserved better, and as I leaned down to place a soft kiss on her cheek, I resolved that she was going to get better.

Ellie stirred when I entered the room, and turned over to greet me. "Hey, how was your flight?" she asked softly.

I sighed as I got changed into sweats. "Terrible. I got stuck between two very plump ladies, and when I offered to switch with one of them – since they clearly knew each other – I got a litany of reasons of why one had to sit on the outside and one had to sit near the window. So I spent the whole flight with them leaning over me to talk to each other."

Elli snickered. "Aw, baby, I'm sorry."

I slid under the covers and pulled her to me. "It's okay, I'm just glad to be home. Now, give me a hug."

Ellie hugged me tightly and we settled against each other. "Did the conference go well?"

"Yeah, it did. And I actually ran into some people I used to know when I got in at Kennedy."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, actually, that woman I used to date, Rachel Greene."

"Oh, your Mrs. Robinson experience?"

I snorted. "Hardly, Ellie. She wasn't that much older than me. But she was there with her husband and family, and it turned out the guy she married was a really good friend of hers back then. They actually dated years before we did; in fact they got married once. Well, they were drunk," I laughed, actually surprised I remembered about all that. "But it was nice to see they ended up together. They seem to have a nice life."

"I'm glad you saw an old friend."

"It was interesting. So, how was Melissa while I was gone?"

"She missed her daddy."

"I missed her. And her mommy. And I've been thinking…"

"Uh-oh," Ellie teased.

"No, not uh-oh, at least I hope not. I was thinking, maybe we should upgrade to a more family-friendly environment. I mean, who knows if we'll have more kids? If we do, I'd kind of like to have the space for them. And I think…I really think I'd like Melissa to have a backyard."

Even in the dark, I could see I startled her. "What? But we'd have to leave the city, and you love it here!"

"I do," I said softly. "But I'd love being a family more. And maybe, well, I know you were hinting around at it, and I wasn't very supportive, but if you want to cut back on work so Melissa doesn't have to spend all her time in daycare, I think it's a great idea."

Ellie was silent for a minute. Then she burst out laughing. "Remind me to send Rachel Greene a thank you card," she giggled.

"Why is that?" I asked, amused.

"Because I don't know what she said to you, but whatever it was, it made a favorable impression."

I smiled and pulled my wife closer, and eventually, we drifted off to sleep.


End file.
